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Karachi. 19.9.2016: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) central leader and PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate of Pakistan Senator Taj Haider while expressing grave concern over unannounced prolonged outages in Karachi by the Karachi Electric (KE) slammed the company saying the people of the city have already been in a state of high level agony from the blackouts. The majority of city’s dwellers of less developed areas such as Orangi Town, New Karachi, Surjani, Baldia, Sher Shah, Landhi, Ibrahim Hyderi, Old Golimar, Old City Areas, Lyari and similar other areas are worst of the affectees of the KE’s planned scheme of shedding load for prolonged hours despite the fact that the consumers of these aforesaid areas settle their monthly electricity bills regularly and on time.

He said that at one hand, the people of the city are worst affected while at the other their trade and businesses have also been affected. The commercial activities and industrial growth and production at factories have greatly squeezed for which the inefficient KE management is solely responsible.

Senator Haider also said that despite unannounced blackouts, the KE has also been unchecked for its tactic of minting hefty sums of money from the consumers through bogus and highly inflated electricity bills of which the proof lies with the office of the Ombudsman where a huge heap of consumers’ complaints has piled up.

He said that the management of the KE under a planned scheme of torturing the consumers of less developed areas, facilitating the dwellers of the city’s posh areas from where the KE earns huge amount of money through extra-high recovery over the flawed slab pattern. The KE is ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply to city’s posh areas for higher earning for which the flawed slab level mechanism makes the company to make hay while sun shines.

Senator Haider said that the tyrannical policies of the KE have snatched the morsels from the mouth of the low-income consumers and is committing grave human rights violations. The KE has to end its discriminating policies and ensure smooth distribution of electricity as it has due capacity to meet city’s need for the electricity and in this regard, the NEPRA has also said that the KE could not be allowed to shed load even for a moment as the KE has the capacity required.

The Senator asked the KE to stop agonising the consumers and start meeting the needs for the electricity in the city by keeping its plants up to the mar and produce the electricity as per the installed capacity.